House GOP leaders were among the 192 Republicans who voted against providing $28 million in aid to the Food and Drug Administration to address the shortage of baby formula.
House GOP leaders were among the 192 Republicans who voted against providing $28 million in aid to the Food and Drug Administration to address the shortage of baby formula — within days of criticizing President Biden for not doing enough on the issue. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Whip Steve Scalise (La.) and Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) voted late Wednesday against the measure to provide new FDA funding, which the House approved on a largely party-line vote of 231 to 192. Twelve Republicans broke ranks and joined with Democrats in backing the money. On a separate bill, the House voted Wednesday overwhelmingly to ease the burden on low-income parents by allowing the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program — a major national purchaser of formula — to source it from more foreign suppliers. The vote was 414 to 9 with all the opposition coming from Republicans. The Senate approved the legislation Thursday by voice vote. It now heads to Biden, who will sign it into law. In recent days, Republicans have assailed Biden and the administration about the nationwide shortage that has forced parents to scramble to find formula to feed their infants. On Wednesday, Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to address the issue, tapping a Korean War-era law to ramp up domestic manufacturing rapidly. Biden invokes Defense Production Act to boost baby formula supply
During Wednesday’s floor debate and in recent days, House Republicans have described the Democratic bill providing money to the FDA as unnecessary, arguing that it would do little to solve the root of the problem.
“Instead of working with Republicans to find bipartisan solutions to address the issue, Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi dropped this legislation yesterday in hopes of covering up the administration’s ineptitude by throwing additional money at the FDA with no plan to actually fix the problem, all while failing to hold the FDA accountable,” Scalise said in a notice urging Republican lawmakers to vote against the measure.
